Noble Tune aims to hit right note in American Turf

Noble Tune is one of only two prior turf stakes winners in the American Turf (NYRA/Adam Coglianese) Noble Tune is the most accomplished horse in the Grade 2, $200,000 American Turf, but far from a cinch as he’ll have to outrun a dozen other three-year-olds in the 1 1/16-mile test which precedes the Kentucky Oaks on Friday at Churchill Downs. The Chad Brown-trained son of Unbridled’s Song, who has been favored in all four career starts, made an immediate impact on debut at Saratoga last September winning by 3 1/2 lengths, and then took the Pilgrim at Belmont Park by 2 1/2 lengths over yielding ground. A mild 7-2 choice in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita, Noble Tune proved second best, 1 1/4 lengths behind European import George Vancouver. Noble Tune has raced just once this season, getting up in the final jump to deny Are You Kidding Me by a nose in an open allowance on the Tampa Bay Downs turf March 9. He will be ridden for the first time Friday by Javier Castellano.

I’ll Call, who made a visually impressive debut at Keeneland April 5, was
entered in an allowance at Churchill Thursday but might go in the American Turf
instead. The George Strawbridge homebred, a half-brother to Grade 2 winner Smart
Bid, was much the best in that one-mile affair and hardly seems out of place
despite the rise in class. I’ll Call adds Lasix for the first while retaining
Edgar Prado in the saddle.

Admiral Kitten, who took the El Joven at Retama Park in his turf debut last
November, recently missed in a photo against allowance foes on the Keeneland
turf and is clearly headed in the right direction for the hot Mike Maker barn.
Admiral Kitten’s sire, Kitten’s Joy, captured the 2004 American Turf en route to
champion turf male honors.

Other notables in the field are Anyriderill Do, Bashaar and War Dancer, all
of whom exit allowance wins; Channel Isle, the only one in the field with a
victory on the Matt Winn turf course; and Positively, who placed last season in
the Bashford Manor and Iroquois on Churchill’s main track and was most recently
second in his turf debut. Fire Guard, a homebred racing for Juddmonte Farms, is
capable of better after a dull eighth in the Transylvania at Keeneland last
month.

Blueeyesintherein, shown winning the Debutante, puts her undefeated mark on the line against 13 Eight Belles rivals (Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography) The Grade 3, $150,000 Eight Belles, a seven-furlong dash, offers an intriguing battle of two undefeated three-year-old fillies. Blueeyesintherein, who took the Debutante at Churchill last June, made it three-for-three with a dominating win in the April 12 Instant Racing at Oaklawn following a layoff of nearly 10 months, while the Bill Mott-trained Calistoga won a maiden and an allowance at Gulfstream over the winter by a combined margin of 10 1/4 lengths. The baker’s dozen field of sophomores also includes Fusaichiswornderful, a star in Puerto Rico at two and blowout winner of the March 1 Primal Force at Gulfstream; Spinaway winner So Many Ways, third in the Primal Force and fifth in the Fair Grounds Oaks in two starts this year; Grade 2 winners Spring Venture and Renee’s Titan; and the Grade 3-placed Silverbulletday winner Touch Magic.

The filly companion to the American Turf, the $150,000
Edgewood,
attracted a field of 11. The likely favorites in the 1 1/16-mile heat are Tokyo
Time, a neck second in the Herecomesthebride at Gulfstream in early March, and
the Santa Anita stakes winners Judy in Disguise and Birdlover. Judy in Disguise
finished third as the favorite in the Beaumont at Keeneland over Polytrack most
recently, while Birdlover just failed to last nine furlongs in the April 6
Providencia at Santa Anita, finishing second by a half-length.

La Senorita winner Kitten’s Dumplings, second in the Florida Oaks two back,
merits respect on her best day, as does the multiple stakes-placed Wave Theory.
Broken Spell could be a longshot to watch as the Grade 1-placed filly missed by
only a neck the last time she ran on grass, in the P.G. Johnson at Saratoga
August 29.

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